Species

Yellow-crowned night-heron

Nyctanassa violacea

A grey night-heron with a bold black-and-white face that specialises in crabs, including in Georgia's coastal towns.

Photo Ianaré Sévi (opens in a new tab) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (opens in a new tab)

Urban wildlife

At a glance

Size: About 54 to 70 cm long
Weight: About 650 to 850 g
Habitat: Salt marshes, swamps, tidal creeks and wooded neighbourhoods near water
Diet: Mainly crabs and crayfish
In Georgia: A summer resident; present all year on the coast
Voice: A short "quak"
Rabies vector: No

Identification

Adult: Grey body; black face with a white cheek patch and a pale crown; thick black bill; long yellow legs
Young: Grey-brown with small white spots
Told apart from: Black-crowned night-heron, which has a black back and white underparts
Where to look: Tidal creeks and marsh edges at dusk; nesting in trees in coastal towns

Behaviour

Yellow-crowned night-herons stalk crabs slowly and swallow them whole. They often nest in live oaks in coastal neighbourhoods.

Why they matter

These herons eat large numbers of fiddler crabs and crayfish and are part of the marsh food web. Their nests in trees in towns like Savannah and Brunswick make them familiar neighbours for coastal residents.

Reproduction and lifecycle

Nest — A platform of sticks in a tree, often near water
Eggs — Usually three to five
Incubation — About 21 to 25 days
Chicks — Fed by both parents
Flight — At about six weeks
Lifespan — Several years

Living around people

Young night-herons that fall from nests in neighbourhoods cannot climb back; they need a rehabilitator.
Nesting trees in yards are used year after year.

Misconceptions

A heron in a suburban oak is lost. Yellow-crowned night-herons nest in towns near the coast.

Related species

Seasonal activity

When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.

Breeding and active nests by month for this species
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Breeding	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Active nests	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Notes	Present on the coast	Present	Arriving inland	Nesting	Nesting	Chicks	Young fledging	Young dispersing	Present	Inland birds leave	Present on the coast	Present on the coast

Where it lives

Recorded in 58 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.

Canada

If you found one

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